Cyndaquil Line/HGSS
Cyndaquil is available as the Fire-type starter in the Johto-based games. While GSC Johto is a relatively easy game to Nuzlocke, HGSS is a whole different story. Higher levels, better movesets, the introduction of the physical-special split (which makes fighting Morty that much more difficult), and the mandatory encounter of the game's cover birds make it for one heck of a ride. Fortunately, Cyndaquil is up to the challenge and then some. The Cyndaquil line is HGSS is like a hammer -- it doesn't do a wide variety of things, but whatever it does do, it hits HARD. Two key examples of the Cyndaquil line's power is the fact that it gets access to the TM Fire Blast by the third gym and the ability to wield the Choice Specs item right after the fourth gym. While the Cyndaquil line does have some bad matchups -- such as Rival's Totodile, Chuck's Poliwrath, and Claire's Kingdra, not to mention a plethora of Rock and Water-types around Johto -- it has a way to overwhelm almost all of its perceived counters. Without a doubt, Cyndaquil is at the top of the list of viability. Important Matchups Johto * Rival (Cherrygrove City): Just spam Tackle. * Gym #1 - Falkner (Violet City, Flying-type) If you roasted a sufficient amount of Bellsprouts in Sprout Tower, then this fight should not be that bad. Just spam Ember. Unfortunately, the AI tends to spam Roost when low on health, so it may take awhile to knock it out. If you manage to evolve Cyndaquil before the fight, then you will be able to win much more quickly. * Proton (Slowpoke Well): Quilava should have no problems with this fight at all. Just spam Ember and watch out for Confusion/Poison hax. * Bugsy (Azalea City, Bug-type): Scyther's U-turn will leave a serious dent in Quilava despite its type resistance. Additionally, it has both Focus Energy and Leer, which can really mess you up. Thankfully, however, Scyther can only use one move at a time, while you slowly but surely spam Ember until everything is dead. You can easily OHKO the Metapod and Kakuna. * Rival (Azalea Town): If you're at a high enough level, it is actually possible for Quilava to solo this fight. Both Gastly and Zubat fall to Ember, and hopefully you can avoid their hax moves in the process. The Croconaw is very tough, but for whatever reason the AI tends to spam Scary Face. This should give you enough time to use a few Leers and then KO it with a few Quick Attack. Only use this strategy if you're really desperate, however; otherwise, you should use a Water, Grass or Electric-type to face Croconaw. * Gym #3 - Whitney (Goldenrod City, Normal-type): If you have taught Quilava Fire Blast by this point (which you DEFINITELY should), then it can take out the Clefairy pretty easily. Granted, it can always pull a Metronome into Explosion or Hydro Cannon, but then again, this risk factor is present for every single Pokémon you could use against Clefairy. Depending upon Quilava's level, it may actually be able to 2HKO Miltank with Fire Blast (her ability is Scrappy, NOT Think Fat), although a miss would really hurt you. Also, any of Miltank's four moves are good for her and bad for you, so just do whatever you can to slaughter the cow ASAP. If you're feeling really ballsy, you can try to manipulate your damage so that you can smack Miltank with a Blaze-boosted Fire Blast, but this is a very risky strategy. * Rival (Burned Tower): Quilava finds itself in a similar situation to the previous Rival fight. By now, however, you have access to Fire Blast, which should easily OHKO both the Gastly and the Zubat. The Magnemite falls easily to Ember or Flame Wheel. Again, you should let a teammate handle Croconaw if at all possible. * Gym #4 - Morty (Ecruteak City, Ghost-type): This fight is very dangerous for Quilava due to Gengar's Shadow Ball. The only conceivable way to beat it one-on-one without overlevelling or X items is by manipulating the Shadow Ball so that it puts you into Blaze and you can retaliate with a very strong Fire Blast. Even then, it may not necessarily OHKO. Against the two Haunters and Gastly, all you can do is spam your STAB move of choice and hope that their hax moves don't affect you too much. Concerning teammates, it is HIGHLY recommended that you use a Normal-type mon with a supereffective coverage move (such as Extrasensory Togepi, Crunch Raticate, or Girafarig in general). * Eusine (Cianwood City): Both the Drowzee and Haunter can be overwhelmed with Fire Blast. Just watch out for Drowzee's Hypnosis + Dream Eater combo. You can take on the Electrode too if you'd like: it does not have any exploding moves, but it does have STAB Thunder. * Gym #5 - Chuck (Cianwood City, Fighting-type): It is highly recommended to fight Jasmine and Pryce BEFORE this fight so that hopefully you can have a Typhlosion for this fight. Typhlosion can take on the Primeape with relative ease; just make sure to KO it ASAP so that it can't rattle off some Double Teams. Poliwrath is obviously much more difficult in that it is much bulkier and is rocking STAB Surf, so you should probably just chip away at it with Fire Blast and then switch out to something that can stand a fighting chance against this monster. It is highly, highly recommended that you acquire the Choice Specs item before this fight and equip it to your Quilava or Typhlosion. * Gym #6 - Jasmine (Olivine City, Steel-type): This fight is a hundred times easier than Chuck in that all you have to do is use the appropriate STAB attack and watch everything faint. * Petrel (Team Rocket HQ): Nothing too complicated here: just spam whatever STAB move you can get your hands on. However, do note that his Koffing has Selfdestruct, so you had better hope your Fire Blast doesn't miss. * Ariana (Team Rocket HQ, tag battle with Lance): Again, this fight is relatively simple; just spam whichever Fire move is most convenient for you. The worst thing that can happen to you is if Arbok's Crunch gets a Defense drop and then the Murkrow Pursuit-traps you, but the odds of this occurring are pretty slim. * Gym #7 - Pryce (Mahogany Town, Ice-type): Both Seel and Dewgong have Thick Fat, nerfing your precious Fire-type attacks. Quilava simply cannot get past Dewgong due to the latter's access to Rest + Sleep Talk. It is possible to handle both Seel and Piloswine, though, if you have the Choice Specs attached. Typhlosion is another story altogether: since it gets access to the TM Focus Blast, it can demolish all three of Pryce's Pokémon without having to rely upon the Choice Specs. (Just beware of Focus Blast's penchant to miss right when it counts the most.) * Petrel (Goldenrod Radio Tower): This guy has five freaking Koffings, all of which know Selfdestruct, and a Weezing with Explosion. Be very careful. However, if you are in your upper 30s, then you should be able to OHKO everything with a whole bunch of Specs-boosted Lava Plumes. To ensure your victory, you may want to have your health lower by wild encounters so that you can be in Blaze for this fight. This strategy may sound risky, but it is far less risky than giving Weezing an opportunity to Explode in your face. * Rival (Goldenrod Underground): Typhlosion can blow everything away except for Feraligatr. * Proton (Goldenrod Radio Tower): The Golbat will fall to a STAB move of your choice. His Weezing thankfully does not have any exploding moves, so you can defeat that easily, too. * Ariana (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Again, just roast everything with your Fire STAB. * Archer (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Typhlosion is more than capable to solo this fight. Keep in mind that both Houndour and Houndoom have Flash Fire, but you have Focus Blast (as well as some luck), then they will both fall. His Koffing does not have any exploding moves, thankfully enough. * Gym #8 - Clair (Blackthorn City, Dragon-type): This gym will prove rather difficult to Typhlosion, but you can still overcome it. For starters, her Gyarados does not have any good attacking moves, giving you plenty of time to use several X items if you so choose. If not, then you should use the Sunny Day + SolarBeam combo to dispatch of Gyarados. The Dragonair with Fire Blast is pretty easy, but make sure you have the Sun up against the Dragonair with Aqua Tail. Finally, your can potentially defeat Kingdra if you manage to stall it out of Hydro Pump PP, as Hydro Pump definitely will not KO as long as the Sun is up. * Kimono Girls (Ecruteak Dance Theater): Umbreon is ridiculously bulky and will probably not even get OHKO'd by a Specs-boosted Focus Blast, but you should eventually be able to overwhelm it. Fire Blast should roast Espeon, but it can deal a significant amount of damage with Psychic, so it is recommended you switch out to a Psychic-resist or special wall. Flareon should eventually fall to a few Specs-boosted Focus Blasts, although be wary of the inevitable misses. You can defeat the Vaporeon with relative ease with Sunny Day + SolarBeam, but keep in mind that this strategy will force you to use a item that isn't Choice Specs. Basically, pick your poison. * Ho-Oh (Bell Tower, HeartGold only): Typhlosion can handle this fight relatively easily, although it may take awhile unless you want to use Rollout or TM Rock Tomb. * Lugia (Whirl Islands, SoulSilver only): The only way Typhlosion has a chance in this fight is by packing Sunny Day, as Lugia has both Rain Dance and Hydro Pump. * Rival (Victory Road): A Specs-boosted Fire Blast or even Flamethrower should OHKO everything except Feraligatr, whom you can only defeat with the risky Sunny Day + SolarBeam strat. * Elite Four Will (Indigo Plateau, Psychic-type): Similar to the previous Rival fight, a Specs-boosted Fire move should destroy both Xatus, Jynx and Exeggutor. If you're feeling ballsy enough, it is possible to 2HKO the Slowbro while tanking its Water Pulse like a boss; however, it also has Amnesia, so 'Bro may very well stall you out. * Elite Four Koga (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Ariados, Venomoth and Forretress all fall to Flamethrower. Muk can potentially be dangerous since it has both Minimize and Black Sludge, but you should still be able to 2HKO it with Specs Flamethrower. Crobat can hit you with Wing Attack, which will likely 3HKO you, and it can also boost its evasion with Double Team. If you're highly leveled enough, though a Specs-boosted Fire Blast should be able to OHKO. * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): The best move Hitmontop can use against you is Dig, which you can easily play around. The Hitmonlee can hit you hard with Hi Jump Kick, but you can probably OHKO it with a Specs-boosted Fire Blast. The Hitmonchan is somewhat bulkier, but it doesn't even have any STAB moves, so you're good there. Definitely avoid the Onix. As for the Machamp, it has Rock Slide, which will hit you hard but probably will not OHKO you. Meanwhile, you can 2HKO it back with Flamethrower. * Elite Four Karen (Indigo Plateau, Dark-type): Umbreon is ridiculously bulky and will probably not even get OHKO'd by a Specs-boosted Focus Blast, but you should eventually be able to overwhelm it. Vileplume is easily OHKO'd. Gengar is also easily OHKO'd, but just make sure you outspeed lest it try to use Destiny Bond. Murkrow also should not be the problem. The main issue for this fight is Houndoom, whose Flash Fire turns your Fire STAB into a liability. There is a possibility the AI will "predict" your Fire move and switch into Houndoom to receive the Flash Fire boost. Thus, you may not want to equip the Choice Specs for this fight, as you run the risk of not only giving the Houndoom a free Flash Fire boost but also a free turn to set up Nasty Plot, which could very well end your run. * Champion Lance (Indigo Plateau, Flying-type): His lead Gyarados, unlike Clair's, has a very strong physical STAB in Waterfall, which will likely OHKO you. Avoid that matchup at all costs. As for the Dragonite trio, the best thing you can use against them is a Specs or Sun-boosted Fire Blast, but even that may not 2HKO them as Dragonite is very bulky and will either slow your roll with Thunder Wave or roll over you with Outrage. If you really are feeling desperate, you could try to pull off a Rollout sweep, but you will likely get KO'd before you can deal any significant damage. Aerodactyl should definitely be avoided as it will outspeed you and hit you hard with STAB supereffective Rock Slide, if not KO you outright. The best matchup Typhlosion has in this fight is against the Charizard, whom you should be able to outmuscle with Specs Fire Blast. Kanto From this point onwards, you can fight the gyms in any order, though you will need to retrieve the Machine Parts from the Cerulean City gym before you have access to the earlier portion of Kanto. Feel free to anticipate or postpone any battles as needed. * Gym #9 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): Don't do it. All of his Pokémon know Rock Slide, and Kabutops has Endure and Aqua Jet. * Rival (Mt. Moon, optional): Just like the previous fights, Choice Specs is your friend. Eruption is the best move to use if you have already learned it, but Flamethrower also works well. Alakazam and Gengar are evolved now, but only Alakazam has any chances of outspeeding you, and Typhlosion has good Special Defense anyway, so it won't be a problem. Feraligatr, predictably, is still a no-go. * Gym #10 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): Not a good idea, but if you use the Sunny day + SolarBeam combo, you should be ok. The Quagsire has Rain Dance, so make sure you sun up before hand to use a one turn SolarBeam on it. * Gym #11 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): Spam whichever Specs-boosted Fire STAB you feel like and watch 'em fall. * Gym #12 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): It's a Grass-type gym, so have at it. * Gym #13 - Janine (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): This is basically another Bug-type gym, and as such, simply use your STAB. * Gym #14 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): The key to this fight is taking down the Espeon before it gets too many Calm Mind boosts. Do that with Eruption if you have it, otherwise Choice Specs is a go. * Gym #15 - Blaine (Seafoam Islands, Fire-type): Focus Blast/Earthquake is your best bet if you really want Typhlosion to do this himself, but I'd suggest you just bring a water, ground, or rock type. Just remember the Magmar has Thunderpunch, both Magmar and Magcargo can burn on contact, and Rapidash is immune to Fire. * Gym #16 - Blue (Viridian City): He's no pushover, that's for sure. You're a lot faster than most of his team, so make sure to kill Exeggutor before it can set up trick room. His Arcanine has ExtremeSpeed, and can Roar you out to another Pokémon. I really shouldn't have to explain why taking on Gyarados and Rhydon with Typhlosion is a bad idea. * Rival (Indigo Plateau, optional): Literally nothing has changed since the Mt. Moon battle except that his Golbat has evolved, and that you should most definitely have Eruption by now. Slap that Choice Specs on Typhlosion and go for it. * Red (Mt. Silver): This guy brought his A game. It's constantly hailing, whittling down your hp, and his level 88 Pikachu is now holding a Light Ball, turning it from a joke to a kamikaze missile. Everything here is risky, but you may be able to handle Lapras, Venusaur, Pikachu, and Charizard. Blastoise should be avoided, and Snorlax has Thick Fat and Giga Impact. Moves Cyndaquil starts with Tackle and Leer, and then Smokescreen at 6. Ember comes at level 10, and will be your best Fire move for a while. Quick Attack can replace Tackle, and Flame Wheel '''comes at 20, but isn't a long term keeper as it's a physical move. '''Defense Curl is at 24, and is not worth it for a sweeper. Swift, at level 31, is a base 60 power special normal move, so it can stick around awhile. Lava Plume at 35 is your first good replacement for ember, but be wary of using it in doubles, as it hits friend and foe alike. Flamethrower comes at 42, which is definitely a keeper. Rollout at 46 is not worth keeping, unless you really want to try the Defense Curl + Rollout combo. Double Edge comes at 53, which is not a good option at all. Eruption, which Typhlosion gets at level 57, is tied with Blast Burn for highest base power of and Fire-type move, and unlike Blast Burn, Eruption has no recharge, stat drop, recoil, or low acc. Its only caveat is that Typhlosion must be at full health in order to deliver full damage, but since Typhlosion is so fast, you can OHKO a lot of things before they can even touch you. Typhlosion's TM movepool is small but good. Fire Blast is by far the most important TM available to the Cyndaquil line as it provides the ability to roast everything throughout both Johto and Kanto. Sunny Day boosts its Fire-type attacks, halves Water-type attacks, and lets Typhlosion use SolarBeam in just one turn. Hidden Power may sound like a decent idea in theory, but nine times out of ten its base team will render it unusable. Typhlosion's physical movepool includes Earthquake, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide, Shadow Claw, Return, Strength, but Typhlosion's much higher special attack stat means that nine times out of ten you are going to want to use one of your special moves instead. Still, Earthquake is always a reliable attack to hit opposing Fire-types with. Recommended movesets: ''Choice Specs: Eruption, Flamethrower, Focus Blast, Hyper Beam / SolarBeam'' ''Any other item: Flamethrower / Fire Blast, Sunny Day, SolarBeam, Focus Blast / Eruption / Earthquake'' Other Cyndaquil's stats Quilava's stats Typhlosion's stats * What Nature do I want? Modest is absolute best. Anything minus Attack or plus Special Attack is good, though Lonely/Naughty/Mild/Rash can work if you need to run a physical attack. Even with an Adamant nature and 0 IV in Special Attack, with 10 Calciums worth of EVs, a level 50 Typhlosion can do almost half to Lance's level 50 Dragonite with full health Specs Eruption. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? If you let it evolve as soon as it can, you can have a Quilava before Falkner without too much trouble. If you plan to use your starter for the Chuck fight, it is definitely recommended to fight Jasmine and Pryce first so that you can have a Typhlosion by then. * How good is the Cyndaquil line in a Nuzlocke? Cyndaquil is one of the best overall Pokémon to use in an HGSS Nuzlocke. It is by far the best Fire-type, the best user of Choice Specs, and one of the best special attackers in general. Virtually every single one of Cyndaquil's counters can be handled with relative ease by the many bulky Water-types in Johto. * Weaknesses: Ground, Rock, Water * Resistances: Bug, Steel, Fire, Grass, Ice * Immunities: None * Neutralities: Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ghost, Electric, Psychic, Dragon, Dark Category:HeartGold/SoulSilver Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses